Under a cloud of fear
by Stwolfgang 'Peas' Ambrose
Summary: New story. Zombies have won and now the plants are struggling to survive in this post-apocalyptic world. (Disclaimer.) PvZ is owned by Popcap. I own the plot.
1. Chapter 1

The night was miserable in Edgar square, the rain fell upon the ranks upon ranks of Soldiers. They stood in the square, eyes unblinking, gazing upon their leader and his bulbous brain. Doctor Edgar George Zomboss stood on the balcony of the large tower which had become his citadel of hate, death and torture. His words of hate echoed across the square, booming from the loudspeakers. The young man, just graduated from the Academy, stood with his division, all of them in the same uniform, partially tattered by the demands of training. Each of them held their rifles with pride, ready to crack down on rebels, slaughter the remaining resistance groups and do their new world, new leader, proud.

"...And so we will CRUSH the weeds beneath our marching feet! STOMP them out of existence! TAKE prisoners whenever you can! They help feed our growing war machine!" The words of hate seemed to drive up the passion of the crowd.

"OORAH! OORAH! OORAH!" The crowd chanted in unison, pumping their fists as they finished each chant.

"Down with the green horde! Death to the weed plight!" The yells were overwhelming Kyler.

"KILL 'EM ALL!" He yelled out, his passion burning bright, similar to the Plants they had trained on when he had his turn with the Flamethrower, their screams of pain terrified him at first, now they emboldened him.

* * *

The scarred Peashooter looked through the grate in anticipation, the rebels were ready to strike, ready to send a message to the tyrannical dictator that had conquered them, slaughtered them with impunity and killed their families. He was tall, for a Peashooter. He wore at the base of the left leaf upon his head a gold ring, fashioned with two black, red and gold feathers that protruded upwards. He wore a blue bandanna with a spiral pattern around his neck and two black lines under each of his eyes. The Peashooter, whose real name was lost to experimentation, now going by Donitz, looked down the ladder, the rest of his squad, what remained of his friends, looked up. There was Ajax, the Commando Peashooter, more than happy to return to the city and enact revenge. Beneath him was Eleanor, the Metal Petal, she firmly believed that her love was still alive. Finally, at the bottom of the ladder was Vivian, the Alien Flower who, like the others, had suffered greatly. Unlike the others, she was experimented on before everything had gone wrong. As the rally came to an end, the square was lit up with explosions as stolen Z4 went off, causing vast structural damage to the walls surrounding the square, as well as injuring and killing many of the zombies that stood near the edge of the square. Once the smoke began to clear, the Peashooter pushed up the grate and leapt out of the sewer, throwing a Chili Bean Bomb into the crowd as he emerged. The sound of gunfire echoed across the square, quickly drowning out screams and yells of pain as the zombies reacted to the shock attack.

* * *

Kyler fell onto his side when the explosions went off, knocked over by the shock-wave. He was able to keep hold of his rifle, his training, especially with rocket jumps, had improved his grip. As he got up, he spotted a Chomper through the legs of his comrades. So Kyler brought his Ztg-44 Assault rifle up to his shoulder and fired at the Chomper through the legs of his comrade. Much to his surprise he didn't hit his comrades, but nailed the Chomper, shredding their stem apart. The Chomper's whimpers as they bled out weren't heard over the chaos. Kyler got up and got his bearings, the Plants were attacking from every direction, most of them emerging from the sewers. Kyler reloaded quickly, getting his ammo from a fallen comrade, and he shot at any plant scum that dared to show themselves to him. Eventually Kyler spotted a Commando Peashooter, who had just emerged from a sewer grate. Kyler raised his rifle, but before he could even think about pulling the trigger, the rifle was shot out of his hands by said Commando Pea.

* * *

Ajax looked at the Soldier, whose weapon he had just shot out of their hands, for a few seconds before ducking and flipping a Soldier who just tried to kick him. Ajax quickly ended them with a few shots to the head. Ajax ran alongside his squad mates, their goal was to eliminate the dictator who was still standing on his balcony, smirking at the massacre taking place. ' _What a mad man!_ ' He thought to himself as he helped clear a path to the citadel.

* * *

Dr Edgar George Zomboss smirked at the sight before him, the trigger for the bombs placed under the square for this kind of scenario, primed and ready to go. If his sources were correct, then the entirety of the remaining Plant forces would be here. Zomboss looked at the General Supremo beside him.

"Are the mechs ready? I do NOT want to blow this BEAUTIFUL square apart unless I have to." The general always found his boss's voice as aggravating.

"Yes Lord Zomboss, the Mechs are at the ready." Zomboss smiled at his Generals reply.

"Good. Now let's attack quickly, I have IMPORTANT business to attend to!" Zomboss then walked off into the citadel. The General shook his head and grabbed his radio.

"Mech squad Brainz, you're a go." There was an Impish laugh from the other end of the radio.

Donitz Shot whoever got in his way, no zombie would stop him from getting revenge on the freak of nature that had taken his partner and child from him…

* * *

/Flashback/

"Pete Lathyrus, I do believe we have met." Pete growled, Zomboss had finally beaten him, taken him captive. Not only was he just captured, but his family were taken too.

"Zomboss, I swear when I break out of here, I will kill you." The freak of a zombie just laughed.

"You aren't going anywhere, I have a MAJOR bone to pick with you. However-" Zomboss walked away and soon returned with Desmond, Pete's son, muzzled and chained. "I don't have a personal vendetta on your son. So let's give him the easy way out." Zomboss used his knife to stab Desmond from behind, straight through the chest, the young Fire Pea's screams muffled by the muzzle. Pete banged on the plastic wall that divided him from the bastard who just stabbed his son.

"YOU ARSE! LET ME OUT!" Zomboss laughed as the Fire Pea went limp and fell to the ground.

"Oh my, I'm sorry Pete. But there's a lot worse coming…"

/Return to Present/

* * *

Ajax tackled Donitz out of the way of the Z-Mech's fist, their Peashooter leader seemed to have zoned out.

"DONITZ! WE NEED YOU!" Ajax grunted as the Z-Mech kicked him towards a Foot Soldier. Once he came to, Ajax shot the stunned Soldier before he threw an EMPeach at the Z-Mech, disabling it long enough for Donitz to come back to reality.

* * *

"Sorry, I… I remembered something." Donitz spun to the side to avoid a barrage of rockets. He threw a Chili Bean Bomb at the stunned Z-Mech, which was unable to escape before being destroyed.

* * *

Kyler raised his fists, unarmed and surrounded by the enemy, he was legitimately terrified. A Chomper lunged, he punched them right in the head, stunning the Chomper, causing them to stumble back. Much to Kyler's surprise, a cool, sharp sensation erupted in his chest. The young man looked down, he had been impaled, much to his surprise, by a Zombie. He turned his head and his eyes came level with the Camo Ranger of their division, Lexi.

"L-Lex… w-why?" The Camo Ranger smiled deviously.

"You're worth a lot to the boss, mate. Once he learnt what you were." Rage boiled in Kyler's veins. His pupils dilated and his skin rippled with black vines that burst from his hands, wrapping around Lexi.

"W-What the fu-" The Camo Ranger's words were cut off as they were crushed. Kyler yelled as the black tendrils exploded from various parts of his bodies, searching out anyone and anything. The plants had returned to the sewers by the time Kyler's tendrils searched for everyone. Around a dozen unlucky zombies were caught and destroyed before the tendrils retracted and Kyler was left lying on the ground unconscious, beside a sewer grate.

* * *

Donitz and Ajax opened the sewer grate and grabbed Kyler, dragging him into the sewers out of the grasps of the Zombies.


	2. Chapter 2

Donitz and Ajax carried the extraordinary man, awed by what they had witnessed in Edgar Square. They headed down the dimly lit sewers, avoiding traps they had set, as they headed to their underground base. It was a long walk, mostly spent descending deeper into the depths of Gaia, where sewer gave way to catacombs. Despite the relatively short walk through the catacombs, it was still an unnerving experience, especially for Ajax...

/Flashback/

Ajax walked through the catacombs, the many bones of the deceased didn't phase him as he passed through. The only time he had been startled was when a gust of wind knocked some of the bones down and onto the ground, the clattering causing the veteran to jump. Though this time, no gust swept its way through the catacombs when the sound of rattling bones echoed from around the corner of an unlit passage. Ajax took a couple steps back as a skeletal figure emerged, their empty eye sockets seemed to stare straight into his soul. The figure leapt at him and Ajax brought up his arm to shield himself, the skeleton bit straight into his arm with serrated teeth. Ajax screamed and shot the skeletons head off, taking a large chunk of his arm with it. Ajax now stood there, bleeding and breathing heavily, footsteps were heard coming from the same passage the skeleton had emerged from…

/Flash Forward/

Ajax shook his head as they exited the catacombs and into the tunnels of a mine. After a few minutes, they finally reached the large, steel door that protected their seemingly abandoned nuclear fallout bunker. Donitz entered the code and Ajax helped bring the man in. Once in, they placed the man on the tattered couch, the others of their bunker were back, thankfully. The radio, which broadcast to the bunkers loudspeaker system, was tuned to the ' _Rebel Airwaves_ ' station, hosted by the mysterious Dusk. The station was playing Fade to Black.

"Why did you bring that back with you, Donitz? Ajax?" Donitz looked at the massive Armour Chomper that had spoken, it was their bunker leader, Ane Conel.

"Ane, we think it's him." Donitz gravely voice didn't betray much sympathy. Ane just growled.

"Don't give me that. He's clearly not." Donitz sighed.

"He's not green. He's still human." Donitz voice became no louder than a whisper. "He's special, Ane, he did something that could let us at least take the outskirts of the city." The Chomper seemed to mull it over.

"If he harms anyone, it's on you two." Ane turned and headed off towards his own quarters.

Kyler started to come to as he groggily opened his eyes and groaned, where he lay felt different to his bunk in the barracks. When he tried to sit up, his back exploded in pain, causing him to let out a bloodcurdling scream. After a few seconds, a cool sensation eased the pain. Kyler looked at who had put the icepack on his back, it was a Sunflower. Kyler's mouth was agape, his eyes staring at this supposed murder machine holding an icepack to his back to soothe his pain.

"It's rude to stare, you know." She had spoken to him.

"U-Uh… umm…" Kyler could not form words.

"This may be a shock to you, but none of us are going to kill you, unless you hurt someone, okay?" Kyler nodded slowly, not really processing it.

"O-Okay… miss." He finally put a few words to after a few minutes.

"The name is Sonatra. Do you remember yours?" The Sunflower's tone sounded legitimately worried.

"M-My name… Umm, Kyler." The Sunflower's eyes widened a bit.

"Well… do you know your last name, Kyler?" Kyler shook his head.

"No ma'am." His voice was very much still on edge, something Sonatra picked up on.

"Well. I suggest you get some more rest. That back of yours has one nasty injury." She left him with the ice pack and got up, leaving the dimly lit room. Kyler looked around, he lay on the bottom bed of a rusty bunk. The dusty room was lit by one, nearly useless, lightbulb, hanging from the ceiling. The walls floor and ceiling were all the same cold, dead, dark grey concrete. Down the centre of the room, along the ceiling, old pipes leaked at, what seemed, every few junctions. Kyler rubbed his muzzy head and winced, his arms felt like they were on fire. He lifted the singlet he wore, his chest had a nasty scar in the center of it, between each of his pecs. Many smaller wounds plastered his abdomen and arms. Kyler dropped the singlet and winced as he lay himself down, hoping that it was all a dream.

Donitz sat in the creaking chair, across the large, baroque style desk to his commanding officer, the very large Armour Chomper, Ane Conel. Maps and documents were strewn across the desk. Yet amidst the chaos, a small corner of the desk was clean, well organized. In this corner sat three photo frames and a candle that never stopped burning. In these photo frames included a photo of a Fire Flower donning a pair of Silver Aviator glasses. She was hugging a very young and quite small Fire Pea wearing a Foot Soldier's helmet, two sizes too big. Donitz teared up when he had initially seen the photo, neither face he remembered, but his heart knew who they were, and it mourned for them. While he may have recently learnt of the Fire Pea, the Fire Flower remained a mystery to him, he vowed to learn who she was. In another frame was a photo that made Vivian sad, for it was a photo of her lost love, the Plasma Pea Wulf. He had gone missing during a recon mission and she yearned for his return. The final frame was the largest, and the one that Ane yearned to cry over. It was a photo of Ane beside his partner, the Cactus, Sarah. And in her arms was a very little Power Chomper and a slightly bigger Fire Cactus, their children, Alnerd and Annika respectively. Ane often held the photo close to him whenever he though he was alone, whimpering like a wounded dog.

"I refuse to have that… scum in my bunker!" Ane slammed a root to the ground to get his point across, Donitz just sighed.

"Ane. He's the hope this resistance needs. Let me train him, once he can control his powers, he will be a dangerous weapon." Donitz expression may have been essentially blank, but his voice had the emotion to get the point across.

"Donitz. You're my best soldier, especially because you know and can control your abilities. But this… _Freak_ -" Ane basically spat the word. "-Is not like you. He's volatile and young. He doesn't know what he's doing and will get you killed. Imagine how quickly this will all fall apart if I let you do that. I will NOT let Dave's death be in vain." Donitz sighed and put his pods to his temples. Despite Ane's size and strength giving him the ability to intimidate almost anyone into submission, Donitz had seen and been through so much that fear and pain were essentially beaten out of him.

"Your scare tactics don't work on me, Ane, you know this. Neither does the ' _Dave's dead_ ' card. If we want a chance to succeed, you need to let me train him into the weapon he can be." Ane growled very deeply.

"You're really asking to have your head taken off…" Ane thought for a few seconds. "Fine… you have a week to train him." Donitz nodded once as he stood.

"Thank you Ane… I really appreciate this chance." Donitz turned and headed towards the steel door. "Ane… I feel like your family would think you made the right choice." Donitz closed the door behind him as he walked out and into the long hallway, the dark grey concrete lining wall, floor and ceiling. Pipes and cables zig-zagged up and down the center of the ceiling, lights haphazardly installed along the hall in intervals of ten metres. Pete made his way towards the room that the strange soldier was in. Once there, the room was only ten metres down the hall from Ane's office, he placed a pod on the door handle and took a deep breath...


	3. Chapter 3

Kyler jerked awake at the sound of the steel door grinding upon its hinges as it was opened. He tried to sit up, his back screaming in protest, but he eventually sat up, unfortunately his ice pack had melted. Kyler looked towards the door, to his disappointment, it was not Sonatra with another ice pack. Instead it was a tall Peashooter, standing at six foot. They were badly scarred and they had a very solemn expression on their face. Their right eye was a dark green, their left a light grey, a scar crossing that eye. Upon their head at the base of their left leaf was a gold ring, two black, red and gold feathers protruded upwards from the ring. The Peashooter had a pair of black, tattoo markings under their eyes as well. They were approaching Kyler quite slowly.

"I hope you've rested well." The Peashooter spoke in a surprisingly deep voice, one that was also quite sad.

"I… I have." Kyler didn't know what to say, but he knew he didn't want to annoy the Peashooter.

"What's your name?" The Peashooter asked in a curious tone, though the sadness was still there, under the curiosity.

"M-My name is Kyler." The Peashooter held out a pod.

"Nice to meet you Kyler. My name is Donitz, I'll be your mentor when you recover." Kyler's jaw dropped as he stammered a bit.

"W-What do you m-mean… m-mentor?" Donitz never broke his solemn expression.

"I mean it in the way that I will be mentoring you on how to control your abilities so that we can do more than just raid the outskirts and occasionally strike the city itself." Donitz sat on the bunk next to his. "What I saw, in that square last night, was something that I have never seen. You're special, just like myself, just like the others here."

"I'm nothing like you." Kyler let out, immediately regretting it as anger flashed through the Peashooter's still working eye.

"You would be surprised." The Peashooter's skin seemed to crawl and ripple, as if something wanted out.

"W-What's happening to you?!" Kyler asked in shock.

"He gets far more active when my mood swings rapidly." The Peashooter kept his solemn expression.

"Who is… 'he'?" Kyler tried not to let his fear show.

"You'll find out in soon. Now get up, I need to test you." Donitz left before Kyler could ask any more questions.

"Why is he so cryptic?" He muttered under his breath as he got up and grabbed the clothes at the end of the bed. There was a pair of urban camouflage cargo pants, Kyler only just realized he was only in a singlet and boxers. He quickly slipped into the cargo pants, which fit well. He also put on a large field jacket, which also fit him well. Once in these clothes, Kyler stepped into the hallway, as he did so the lights cut out, including the radio.

* * *

Kyler stuck his hands out in front of himself and felt for a wall to guide him along. After a few panicked seconds, he found the wall and followed it… until a doorway which he tripped through. As his grunt echoed through the room, everything turned on again and he was left at the roots of a very bored looking Mystic Flower. She had a sneer upon her face, as she walked around him, occasionally scoffing at him as she studied him.

"Really? I get stuck with this? Why not someone else, I mean this is pathetic. We're all doomed." Her jeering had really stung him in ways he had not expected.

"I'm not weak." His voice was the exact opposite of what he was trying to portray, instead of intimidating, he was whining. This made the Mystic Flower laugh at him in a demeaning manner.

"YOU?! Not WEAK?! Ha! Don't make me laugh any more than I have. YOU, are pathetic FILTH! You aren't worthy of my teachings. Come to me when you've learnt what it means to be a fighter." Kyler was hurt, he felt like he had been stabbed with hundreds of daggers with blades that had been in a fire. His spirit was crushed, these words, which he would have shrugged off at the academy, legitimately hurt him now.

* * *

Donitz sighed, he hoped that Kyler would fight back against Malicious, the Mystic Flowers… ' _talents'_ seemed much more effective than he thought. Donitz placed a pod on the steel door and pushed it open as he stepped through, his presence seemed to silence them both.

"Malicious! Enough!" Malicious sneered and stepped back as Donitz helped Kyler up. Kyler was a teary mess, his eyes red and puffy, a couple tears still on his cheeks. Kyler's face went from hurt to anger and he shoved Donitz away.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Donitz stumbled back a few steps, caught off-guard by his actions. As he registered what had happened, a scowl formed on his face as he growled. Before either Kyler or Malicious could register what was happening, blackened vines shout of the ground and ceiling, ensnaring and entangling Kyler as Donitz began to darken, his voice somehow dropping another octave.

"How DARE you! Do you WANT to die?" Kyler could barely breath as the vines slowly tightened.

"N...NO! I… I'm… SORRY!" Kyler managed to squeak out the words between his gasps for air. Donitz calmed as his skin lightened once more and the vines retracted, leaving holes in the floor and roof.

"I'm sorry. Come, let's get you something to eat… then we shall discuss your training." Donitz put a pod on Kyler's back and guided him to the kitchen.

* * *

Kyler was still in pain, but he tried to hide it from the scarred Peashooter that guided him. The kitchen was pretty much the same, bland concrete as the rest of the bunker, but there were benches and tables set up like the canteen of the academy. Checking the fridge of the kitchen would sicken Kyler to the core.

"Z-Zombie… limbs?!" The scarred Peashooter scoffed at him, the most emotion he had gotten out of them.

"Chomper food." Their solemn voice having an undertone that was nonchalant as they reached in and pulled out a rack of ribs. "And mine." Kyler was shocked and thought he would be sick.

"Y-You… eat limbs as well?" The Peashooter nodded.

"Mutated that way by Zomboss." Donitz placed the rack in a pan and quick fried it. "He's why most of us in here don't need sun to survive… well… very much." Kyler nodded limply, his stomach was still churning.

"I-Is there… anything else… to eat?" Donitz didn't even have to look at Kyler for the Foot Soldier to figure out what the answer would be.

"You can try eat us, but that's if you want to die. But we have to scavenge off the dead to survive, you will be able to tell why." Kyler grabbed the smallest chunk of meat, it seemed to be a chunk of thigh.

"C-Can you… cook it for me." Donitz nodded, put his rack, which was now a brown, on a cracked plate before putting Kyler's chunk of meat in the pan.

"Wimp. You're gonna have to learn how to do it because there's a bounty on my head, and it's worth a lot. When someone gets the balls to claim it and if they succeed, you'll be on your own pretty much." Kyler's expression dropped even more.

"O-Oh." Kyler grabbed a plate and Donitz put the chunk of cooked thigh on the plate.

"Bon appetit mon ami." Donitz took his ribs out into the canteen, Kyer followed with his own. Once the two were seated, they ate. Kyler was surprised by the ferocious way Donitz shred the meat clean from the ribs. Kyler used a knife and fork to slowly rip apart the chunk of cooked meat and consume it at a painfully slow rate.


	4. Chapter 4

The next few days, Kyler would spend recovering. 'Recovering' in the underground meant plenty of light physical exercise, like yoga and simple workouts, coupled with intensive mental training. This mental training ranged from simple games of memory, to target acquisition in the dark. The mental training even included a very heavily modified form of chess that was extremely unbalanced to teach one about positioning, spacing and how to actually fight a guerrilla style war.

* * *

Once Donitz thought Kyler had sufficiently recovered, he brought Kyler along to his latest meeting in Ane's office. By the time the two had navigated through the barren halls and into the office, Ajax, Sonatra, Vivian and Ane were already there, looking over a set of maps spread out on the desk. The bottom most map was a map of the city, and the tunnels beneath. Above this, was a map of the zombie occupied Marianas district, notoriously known for the Marianas work camp, which supplied enslaved Plants and insubordinate zombies, to the Cadorna Armaments and Munitions factory. The final map was a floor plan of the munitions factory, the blood stains on the blueprint indicated that it had been forcefully liberated to the underground.

"Ah, good. We were just about to discus how we were going to liberate as many prisoners as we can, as well as sabotage the factory." Ajax waved over Donitz and Kyler as he finished speaking.

"I still think that if we emerge in the factory itself, we will be able to get the factory staff to rise up and quickly clear the guards out before planting the charges. If we liberate the camp first, we will have to siege the factory… and knowing the zombies they will execute everyone or make them fight us." Donitz nodded at Vivian, she was the only one who had ever beaten him at their version of chess.

"But, the same would happen with the camp, no? They will start executing prisoners either way we go, once the alarm is raised." Ajax rubbed his snout with his right pod.

"That's a fair point, Donitz. So we need to decide, what is more important? Sabotaging the factory, or freeing the prisoners?" There were a few murmurs as the conundrum really struck home for a lot of them. Strategically yes, sabotaging a large portion of the zombie production was important from a tactical standpoint as well. But saving the prisoners was morally the way they all leant.

"Perhaps, this is risky, but Kyler and myself enter the Factory and start a uprising there. The rest of you do the same in the camp at the same time. This way neither place is besieged." Donitz looked around, many of his comrades seemed to agree, except for Ajax and Kyler.

"Oh no way am I letting my brother in arms do that." Ajax put a pod on Donitz shoulder.

"Ajax, you gotta protect the sunflowers, okay? You gotta get those kids out of the camp. We're both very strong fighters, and Kyler is strong enough to at least cover my back. We'll be safe, we'll be able to do this." While Ajax sighed and nodded his head in submission, knowing he could not sway Donitz, Kyler looked absolutely mortified.

"I-I'm not ready to fight!" Donitz went over to a cupboard and threw Kyler a Ztg-44, as well as an ammo strap, Kyler barely caught his equipment.

"Yes you are, Kyler. Now lock and load, we've got to start marching."

* * *

Zomboss threw the dart at the map of the city, every recon team he has sent into the sewers to find the weeds have never returned, and he was starting to get impatient. ' _I should flood the sewers and be done with it!'_ He muttered to himself as he mused over how he would destroy the Plants that infested his sewer system. ' _I need those sewers intact, though. I want those damned plants alive, so I can torture them.'_ Zomboss sighed as he stood from his chair and walked over to the window of his penthouse apartment, his perfect, undead utopia was coming to fruition. ' _Ah, soon we will all be united in death. No one will have to fear losing their loved ones anymore. Once I stamp out the weeds, I can kill off my soldiers, bring them back, let them start anew. Hopefully my masterpiece will be completed by then.'_

* * *

Donitz put his pods on the grate, waiting for the patrol to pass. Once the footsteps quieted down, he pushed up the grate, quickly emerging to allow Kyler to get out as well, they only had a two minute window before the next patrol passed by. Once Kyler was free of the sewers, Donitz replaced the grate and raced over to the wall, where Kyler had also moved. Just as the two were up against the wall, the next patrol could be heard approaching from around the corner, so Donitz enveloped them in shadows, hiding them from all but the most observant guard. Thankfully, the guards were not expecting anything much other than having to beat a couple slaves if they straggle. As soon as the last guard passed them, the two followed closely behind, their foot/rootsteps being muffled by the guards ahead.

After a minute, the guards, unintentionally, led them straight to the factory. Here, the two quickly snuck their way into the factory through a set of doors that left them in, what seemed to be, the factory administration offices. This almost immediately triggered alarm bells as all the office workers were loyalist zombies, and all had pistols under their desks. The Zombies all reached for the pistols while Donitz rooted into the floor and Kyler, instinctively raised his rifle to his shoulder and opened fire. Donitz ripped apart the office with his Gatling, indiscriminately destroying art, furniture and zombie heads. Kyler simply shot for the head, putting one or two 7.92mm rounds into a zombie's head before moving on to the next. Donitz unrooted when they had cleaned the room.

"Alright, you take the catwalks. Eliminate the guards before they shoot at the workers. I'll be on the floor trying to inspire the others to fight back, okay?" Kyler nodded weakly at Donitz. Before Kyler could ask how to get to the catwalks, Donitz was already sprinting off to the stairs.

Donitz jumped down the staircase, essentially, as he raced towards the bolted door. The linoleum had clearly been polished not long ago because when Donitz landed, he didn't stop, but he slid straight into the door, thankfully he didn't weigh much so he did not cause too loud of a bang. As he tried to unlock the door, gunshots started to echo through the factory, Kyler had managed to get onto the catwalks, or the guards started shooting workers. Donitz could not figure the lock of the door, so he used the darkened vines he could summon to pull the door straight out of the wall, throwing it against the stairs behind him.

* * *

Ajax emerged from his grate in the labour camp to find the place already rebelling, turns out what remained of the above ground plant army had been contacted and they were also attempting to break the prisoners out. Ajax ducked as soon as he heard a rocket racing towards him, the rocket singeing the very top of his leaf cut. He realized the rocket wasn't, initially, aimed at him as it blew a machine gun turret apart.

"Ajax!" The Commando Pea's head immediately turned to face the Toxic Pea. She wasn't as tall as many of the other Peashooter's, but she was a fierce fighter.

"Toxica! It's been so long." Ajax pulled the Toxic Peashooter into a hug, his skin tingled at the contact.

"Indeed it has, old friend." The two broke their embrace and turned back to the fighting. Ajax used his old friend to help propel himself onto a roof to go Gatling and destroy a few guard towers.

* * *

Donitz tackled the scruffy Tank Commander out of the way of a ZPG, the shrapnel from the blast lacerating Donitz's back. ' _I'll deal with that Foot Soldier later.'_ Donitz got up and shot back at the zombie guards on the catwalks.

"Th-Thank you!" Donitz took his eyes off the guards to look at the Tank Commander, who had clearly just spoken. "You saved my life."

"Hey, it was nothing." Donitz was quick to speak as he span out of the way of a grenade, quickly kicking it into the machinery as he span away.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" The Tank Commander seemed eager to repay Donitz.

"Sabotage the machinery, I'll keep you covered." The Tank Commander nodded at Donitz and got to work.

"What's your name?" Donitz helped the Tank Commander get to the first control panel.

"Donitz. What's yours?" Donitz quickly shot down a pair of scientists as they tried to warp towards them.

"Demetrius." He quickly disabled the controls for the shell press. "On to the next."

* * *

Toxica burst through the housing barracks in search of anyone hiding. To her surprise, she found a Peashooter who was slightly shorter than herself. He seemed to be unconscious as he lay on a bunk, unmoving. Toxica shook the Peashooter, they did not move. Instead of searching for a Sunflower, Toxica place an irradiated pod to the Peashooter's chest, focusing a bit of her own energy into them. After a few seconds, the Peashooter inhaled deeply as they quickly sat up.

"Wh-Who are you?" They seemed to be distraught.

"I'm commander Toxica, we're liberating this camp." The Peashooter's eyes lit up like a firework on the 5th of November.

"Toxica, is that really you?" The Toxic Peashooter nodded.

"Yeah… do I know you?" The Peashooter sighed.

"It's me! Chloro!" Toxica's mouth dropped.

"No. Chloro, r-really!" Chloro smiled.

"It is-" His words were cut off, a hole pierced straight through his chest, his eyes going blank.

"CHLORO NO!" Toxica growled and shot the soldier who had burst into the room, her irradiated peas ripped straight through the soldier's chest, killing them then and there.

* * *

Kyler finished sliding down the ladder after he had cleared off the catwalks, with the help of Donitz and the others that could shoot. Kyler eventually found Donitz, who was directing the labourers into the sewers via a passage they had blown in the floor.

"Where are all these guys gonna go?" Donitz looked at Kyler.

"They will probably be spread out throughout the bunkers." Donitz smiled at Demetrius as he passed them.

"Well, I'll just, meet you down there then." Donitz nodded at Kyler.

"I will probably see you down there. I'm gonna blow the factory once everyone is safe." Kyler frowned.

"You better follow quickly." Donitz looked around.

"Yeah, you'll see me soon." Kyler sighed and joined the others as they descended into the sewers.


End file.
